Game poker

Texas Holdem, The most popular of casino poker games, Texas Hold'em (usually shortened to just Holdem) is a community card game where each player gets two cards while sharing five community cards with all players. The person who can combine their cards to make the best five card poker hand wins -- unless a worse hand bluffs the better hands into folding during the four betting rounds.

Omaha Holdem, A community card cousin of Texas Hold'em, in Omaha each player receives four personal cards and shares five community cards. Commonly played eight-or-better high-low split, Omaha can also be played high only, although then it is usually played with pot limit betting.

Draw Poker, Five Card Draw is the most basic of all poker games, familiar to tens of millions of people via western movies and home games. Due to its extremely high level of basic skill (bad players simply can't compete in even the medium run) Draw is nearly extinct in casinos. Variant: Jacks or Better where you must have at least a pair of jacks or better before you can open a pot before the draw.

Stud, Stud has dozens of variations. Seven Card Stud is the most popular casino Stud type, whereas Seven Card Stud Eight or Better is the most popular online poker tournament version. While an immensely popular home poker game in its many forms (Chicago, Anaconda, Baseball, etc.) Stud has been losing popularity in casinos to the community card games. Eight or Better, or Stud8, is the most common form of HiLo Stud, but High-Low Declare is common in home games. In casinos, sometimes "Q" is played: High Low, no qualifier. 5 Card Stud is another game on life support in casinos. Too much pure skill, so bad players lose quickly, and the game becomes fairly pointless when played with good players only. A few games can be found online however. Stripped deck Mexican Stud is a fairly popular game when a casino offers it. In the few places where it is played, Sonora, no limit five card stud, has its loyal devotees.

Lowball, The opposite of Draw High, Lowball is five card draw where the lowest hand wins (with straights or flushes not mattering). Aces play low, so the best hand possible is a five-high "wheel": 5432A. Deuce to Seven Draw is a Lowball variation where straights and flushes do count and aces act as high cards, making 75432 the best possible hand. 2 to 7 is usually played with No Limit betting. Both forms of Lowball are seldom played anywhere these days, but when they are, they are often played in the Triple Draw format, where instead of the traditional one, three draws (and thus more rounds of betting action) occur.

Razz, Razz is Seven Card Stud played low. A simple, mechanical game when played with a full table of players, Razz games seldom exist except in tournament and shorthanded (two to four players) situations where limited chip stacks or high antes encourage action.

Game Structures and Betting Almost all poker games can be played either Limit, Spread Limit, Pot Limit or No Limit. Limit betting has fixed bets. Spread Limit has fixed bets within a range, for example, $1 to $4. In Pot Limit you can bet up to the pot size. In No Limit you can bet all the chips in front of you.